Anchoring device



June 8, 1965 ANCHORING DEVI GE Filed Dec. 11, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 52 FIG. I so\ ss l in. 20 54 INVENTOR NICHOLAS H. DES cums BY Mar 6% AGENT June 8, 1965 N. H. DES CHAMPS ANCHORING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 11, 1962 INVENTOR NICHOLAS H. DES CHAMPS BY W nin (755% AGENT June 1965 N. H. DES CHAMPS ANCHORING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 11, 1962 r 1 ---il INVENT OR NICHOLAS H. DES CHAHPS AGENT United States Patent 3,187,858 ANCHORING DEVICE Nicholas H. Des Champs, Richmond, Va., assignor to Atlantic Research Corporation, Fairfax, Va., a corporation of Virginia Filed Dec. 11, 1%2, Ser. No. 243,881 7 Claims. (Cl. 189-92) This invention rel-ates to anchoring devices and more particularly to earth anchors of the expansion type which will withstand extremely large loads.

In general, expandable earth anchors are well known. Earth anchors of this type have extendable members which are initially in a retracted position. After the anchor is disposed at a desired depth below the surface of the ground, as by placing it in a predrilled hole of suitable diameter, these members are spread out into the earth surrounding this hole. The weight and consistency of the earth above these expanded members resists dislodgement of the anchor when it is subjected to upward forces. Because of the great differences in the weight and consistency of the many types of soils, it has been very dinicult to devise a heavy-duty expandable anchor which is operative in a wide variety of soils. Another difficulty which has been experienced with earth anchors is their lengthy installation time.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a new and improved earth anchor which will function in a wide variety of soils and which will understand heavy loads.

Another object is to provide such an anchor which is easily and quicklyinstalled to its proper depth in the ground.

Other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: 7

FIGURE 1 is a partially cut away, elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the anchoring device of this invention showing the expandable members in retracted position.

FIGURE 2 is a partially cut away, elevational view of the preferred embodiment of FIGURE 1 showing the expandable members in spread position.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view of the preferred embodiment of FIGURE 1 including an installation device.

In general, my anchoring device comprises a shaft having an enlarged base. Slidably mounted on the shaft is an anchor assembly comprising an inner tubular member, an outer collar, a plurality of expandable members and a plurality of reinforcing struts. The elements of my anchor assembly, in conjunction with locking means located on the tubular member and collar, cooperate in such a manner as to prevent collapse of the expandable members once my device has been installed.

Adverting now in detail to the drawings, an illustrative embodiment of my anchoring device is designated generally by the reference character A. This device includes a shaft such as rod 10. The lower portion 11 (shown in FIGURE 3) is attached to an enlarged base 12 in any suitable mannner as by threading it into a tapped aperture 13 on the upper surface 14 of this base. The lower surface 15 of base 12 rests upon the earth at the bottom of the hole into which the entire anchoring device is placed during installation. Rod 10 contains means such as opening 16 (see FIGURE 3) to attach the object to be anchored.

A tube 20 having a central bore 21 (see FIGURE 3) is slidably mounted on rod 10. A series of locking devices such as split resilient metal retainers 22 contained in 3 ,187,858 Patented June 8, 1965 grooves 23 are transversely positioned in the outer periphery of tube 20. Attached to the bottom portion of tube 20, as by welding, are expandable members such as flukes 24. Located near the upper end of flukes 24 are lateral lines of weakness such as scores or identations 25 which permit bending of these flukes along these lines. The lower ends 26 of flukes 24 abut the upper surface 14 of enlarged base 12 when the flukes 24 are in their retracted position as shown in FIGURES 1 and 3.

A collar 30 having a central aperture 31 is slidably mounted around tube 20. Collar 30 has internal threads 32 in its upper portion and an interior recess 33 having shoulder 37 in its lower end. This recess 33 increases the interior circumference of collar 30 allowing for radial expansion of one of the compressed retainers 22 into the recess 33 when the tube 20 is in a predetermined operative position relative to the collar 30. The expansion of retainer 22 into recess 33 prevents collar 30 from moving downwardly relative to tube 20 or in other words prevents tube 20 from moving upwardly relative to collar 30. Struts 34, which are connected to collar 30 and flukes 24 as by welding, act as reinforcing members for flukes 24. To permit bending each strut 34 has lateral lines of weakness such as scores or indentations 35 and 36 near its upper and lower ends, respectively.

The base 12 of my invention can be of any configuration such as spherical, conical, cylindrical, frusto-conical, etc., so long as its upper surface 14 cooperates with flukes 2.4 to cam them outwardly. Also, the upper surface 14 can have a different configuration than the lower surface 15, for example, one can be spherical and the other conical, etc,

Generally, all parts of the anchoring device of this invention are metal such as cast iron, steel, aluminum, etc. The size and strength-of these parts can be tailored to withstand the maximum ultimate load placed upon the anchor. The number of flukes 24 and struts 34 can be varied to suit the particular use of the anchor. It will, of course, be understood that the aforedescribed locking device is representative only and other suitable arrangements can be used. The retainers 22 of these locking devices can be composed of any resilient material such as metal, for example, spring steel, which is capable of withstanding the shear forces to which it is subjected and which is capable of initial compression and subsequent expansion to its original shape. The size and shape of retainers 22 along with grooves 23 and recess 33 can vary so long as all are contoured to minimum tolerance to prevent shearing of the retainers 22 when large upward forces are exerted on the anchor assembly. Furthermore, the recess 33 is provided with a radial dimension suificlently less than the radial dimension of the retainer 22 when fully expanded so that concurrent lodgment of the retainer 22 in the groove 23 and recess 33 when the locking device is actuated (see FIGURE 2), is ensured. Preferably, the retainers, grooves and recess are annular, with the retainers and grooves having rectangular crosssections. The shoulder 37 of recess 33 is preferably parallel to the top of retainers 22. The number of retainers 22 and their corresponding grooves 23 can vary from one to several depending upon the number of predetermined positions in which it is desired to lock the tube 20 and collar 30.

One of the advantageous features of my earth anchor is its ease and speed of installation. A hole of a predetermined depth and slightly larger than the maximum diameter of my anchor assembly in its retracted position (FIG. 1) is drilled, augered or pressed into the ground. The device in the position shown in FIGURE 1, is inserted into the hole. As illustrated particularly in FIGURE 3, a force transmission means, such as a pipe 40 which enemas-e has a central bore 41 larger than the outside circumference of rod 10, is placed concentrically over rod ill. One end of pipe 4-0 rests on the top of tube 20 and the other end protrudes above rod and beyond ground level. downward force is then applied to the upper end of pipe 49 in any convenient manner as by an air hammer, or jack. This force is transmitted through pipe 40 to tube Zil.

At the transmitted force moves tube 2t) downwardly, the fiukes 24 which-are attached to the bottom of tube 29 also start to move in the same direction. However, the lower ends 26 of fiukes 24 are cammed outwardly by the upper surface 14 of base 12 causing the flukes 24 to bend along their weakened portions at lateral indentations 25. As the fiukes 24 move downwardly and outwardly, they pull attached reinforcing struts 34 in a similar direction causing these struts 34 to bend along their weakened portions or lateral indentations 35 and 36. The struts 34 in turn pull collar St in a downward direction. However, the kinematics of the design of my anchoring device cause the tube to move downwardly at a greater rate than collar 39. Therefore, when tube 20 reaches a predetermined position with respect to collar 39, a compressed resilient retainer 22 expands radially into recess 33. This prevents collar from moving downwardly relative to tube 20 or in other words prevents tube 29 from moving upwardly relative to collar 30.

As particularly illustrated in FIGUREZ, when the upper portion of each of fiukes 24 rests upon the upper surface 14 of base 12, the carnming action is complete and tube 20 can no longer move downwardly relative to base 12. In this position the angle of fiukes 24 is approximately 30 degrees relative to the vertical. If the downward force is further applied to tube 20, the whole anchoring device A is driven deeper into the ground. The resistive force of the soil on the underside of the previously expanded flukes 24 causes them to expand further to a final angle ranging from about to degrees relative to the vertical. I

If it is desired to expand the flukes 24 outwardly to an invention can be embodied in other forms but within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. An anchoring device comprising,

(a) a shaft having means at its upper end to permit attachment thereto of an object to be anchored,

(b) a tubular member slideably mounted on said shaft,

(c) a plurality of iiukes connected to and depending from said tubular member,

(d) a collar slideably mounted on said tubular member,

(e) a plurality of reinforcing struts each of which is connected at its lower end to one of'said flukes and at its upper end to said collar, the interconnection between said collar and said tubular member formed by said struts and said flukes efiecting downward movement of said tubular member relative to said collar upon application ofa force to the top of said tubular member,

(f) cam means mounted on the lower portion of said shaft for effecting expansion of said flukes outwardly when said tubular member is caused to move downwardly relative to said cam means, and

(g) cooperating locking means provided on said tubular member and said collar respectively to prevent retraction of said fiukes upon expansion of said flukes to a predetermined position, said locking means being placed in an operative position by the relative movement between said collar and said tubular member and being actuated when in said operative position.

2. An anchoring device as defined in claim 1 wherein said locking means includes,

angle greater than 45' degrees, a force transmission means shown as yoke 43 (FIGURE 3) having a top horizontal section 44 and an externally threaded lower portion 45 can be placed over pipe 46 and threaded into the tapped upper portion 32 of collar 36. A positive downward force is applied through pipe 40 to tube 2th and a positive upward force is applied through yoke @3 to collar 3% by any suitable power means such as a jack, shown schematically at reference numeral 42 of FIGURE 3. This causes a positive outward expansion of fiukes 24 to any desired angle up to about 85 degrees relative to the vertical. The installation apparatus, i.e., pipe 4t jack 52 and a yoke 43 are disconnected and removed from the anchor,

leaving only the upper end of rod it], containing aperture 16, above ground.

After installation, any upward force exerted on rod 10 by an anchored object would tend to uproot the anchor assembly. Since the expanded flukes 24 cannot move upwardlybecause of the resistance of the earth above them, they tend to pivot inwardly. This pivotal tendency of flukes 24 applies a downward force, relative to tube Ztl, through struts 34 to collar Stl. Howeventhe radially expanded retainers 22 abutment of shoulder 37 of recess 33 prevents the downward movement of collar 39. There-' (a) an expandable retainer mounted within a groove provided in the peripheral surface of said tubular member, and V (b) a recess provided in the inner surface of said collar,

said recess being located such that said retainer expands into said recess when said tubular member and said collar are in said predeterminedposition, said recess having a radial dimension sufficiently less than the radial dimension of said retainer to effect concurrent lodgment within said groove and said recess when said tubular member and said collar are in said predetermined position.

3. An anchoring device as defined in'claim 1 wherein said locking means includes,

, (a) a plurality of expandable retainers, said retainers being mounted within longitudinally spaced annular grooves provided in the outer periphery of said tubular member, and

(b) a recess provided in the inner surface of said collar,

' said recess being located such that one of said retainers expands into said recess when said tubular member and said collar are in one of a plurality of predetermined positions, each of said predetermined positions corresponding to alignment of a different one of said retainers and said recess, said recess having a radial dimension sufficiently less than the radial dimension of said retainer to effect concurrent lodgment within said groove and said recess when said tubular member and said tubular collar are in said predetermined positions.

4. An anchoring device as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said flukes has a line of weakness in the outer surface thereof to effect expansion of said flukes by facilitating bending thereof along said line.

5. An anchoring device as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said reinforcing strutshas a line of weakness on the outer surface thereof adjacent to its upper end to facilitate bending thereof during expansion of said flukes.

6. An anchoring device comprising,

. (a) a shaft having means at its upper end to permit attachment thereto of an object to be anchored,

(b) a tubular member slideably mounted on said shaft,

(c) a plurality of flukes connected to and depending from said tubular member, each of said flukes having a line of Weakness in the outer surface thereof adjacent its upper end to effect expansion of said flukes by facilitating bending thereof along said line,

(d) a collar slideably mounted on said tubular member,

(e) a plurality of reinforcing struts each of which is connected at its lower end to one of said flukes by means permitting variation of the angle defined by each of said struts and the fluke to which each of said struts is attached, each of said struts being connected at its upper end to said collar and having a line of weakness of the outer surface thereof adjacent to its upper end to facilitate bending thereof during expansion of said flukes, the interconnection between said collar and said tubular member formed by said struts and said flukes effecting downward movement of said tubular member relative to said collar upon application of a force to the top of said tubular member,

(f) cam means mounted on the lower portion of said shaft for eifecting expansion of said flukes outwardly when said tubular member is caused to move downwardly relative to said cam means, and

(g) cooperating locking means provided on said tubular member and said collar respectively to prevent retraction of said flukes upon expansion of said flukes to a predetermined position, said locking means including,

(i) an expandable retainer mounted within a groove provided in the peripheral surface of said tubular member, and

(ii) a recess provided in the inner surface of said collar, said recess being located such that said retainer expands into said recess when said tubular member and said collar are in said predetermined position, said recess having a radial actuating means for expanding said flukes by effecting relative motion of said tubular member and said collar, said actuating means comprising,

(a) first force transmission means in force communication with said tubular member,

(b) second force transmission means in force communication with said collar, and

(0) power means in oppositely directed force communication with said first and said second force transmission means respectively to produce relative motion of said first and second force transmission means, and between said tubular member and said collar.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 958,127 5/10 Hovrud l8992 1,167,852 1/16 Sprague l8992 X 2,176,566 10/39 Dillon l8992 2,285,889 6/42 Blanchard 189-92 2,873,829 2/59 Wiegmann l8992 3,017,000 1/62 Hynds 189-92 35 CHARLES E. OCONNELL, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD W. COOKE, JR., JACOB L. NACKENOFF,

Examiners. 

1. AN ANCHORING DEVICE COMPRISING, (A) A SHAFT HAVING MEANS AT ITS UPPER END TO PERMIT ATTACHMENT THERETO OF AN OBJECT TO BE ANCHORED, (B) A TUBULAR MEMBER SLIDEABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT, (C) A PLURALITY OF FLUKES CONNECTED TO AND DEPENDING FROM SAID TUBULAR MEMBERS, (D) A COLLAR SLIDEABLY MOUNTED ON SAID TUBULAR MEMBER, 